Building Healthy Communities hosts free four-week cooking classes for children, teens and moms in Cleveland’s Central and Kinsman neighborhoods to teach healthy eating habits, and how to prepare healthy meals and snacks. Twenty children recently completed Jr. Chef classes taught by Sharon Glaspie, director of Building Healthy Communities, at the new CornUcopia Place kitchen in Cleveland’s Kinsman neighborhood. The Jr. Chef classes, which Glaspie taught with the help of three members of the Garden Boyz, featured lessons on whole grains and high antioxidant foods. Jr. Chef students learned how to make muffins, pumpkin smoothies, turkey burgers and Halloween apple teeth using high antioxidant Red Delicious apples.
“It’s important to reach children at an early age because healthy eating habits learned early in life help form the basis for developing a healthy adult lifestyle,” said Glaspie.
Mom Chef classes begin Tuesday, November 6 at CornUcopia Place, where Glaspie will teach mothers how to prepare healthy meals that their children will enjoy. The free classes will run for four weeks every Tuesday from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Contact Julia DiBaggio at 216-341-1455 to reserve a spot in the class or for more information.
CornUcopia Place is a community space providing nutrition education, cooking demonstrations, an open event space to be shared with the neighborhood, and a harvest preparation facility for use by local market gardeners.
Jr. Chef, Teen Chef and Mom Chef classes are also held on Mondays at Arbor Park Village in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood. Building Healthy Communities is a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System. Pictured are participants in a recent Jr. Chef class, learning to make healthy whole grain muffins.

The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement recently awarded the South Carolina Department of Social Services (DSS) Division of Child Support Enforcement (CSE) more than $2 million in a five-year grant to increase access to services for non-custodial parents who are behind in child support. The increased access will help non-custodial parents to consistently meet their child support obligations and provide for the financial wellbeing of their children. South Carolina was one of eight states to receive such a grant.
The Center for Fathers and Families will be a major partner with the CSE on this project to help ensure that non-custodial parents are linked to employment opportunities, fatherhood programs and other community-based services.
"With this grant we will bring ‘new eyes’ to the process and institutions involved with the fathers who owe child support," said Larry McKeown, CSE director. "We want to re-engineer business practices to make them more inclusive of fathers and their needs, such as ‘right sizing orders’ for child support and changing circumstances over time that affect ability to pay."
Non-custodial parents will receive enhanced child support services, including help with modifying child support orders if necessary, possible reductions in child support debt owed to the state in return for consistent child support payments and finding alternatives to incarceration for enforcement; employment-oriented services that include job readiness, job placement and retention services; and responsible fatherhood/parenting activities using peer support.
The project will help redefine the way child support cases are processed, and the way workforce and fatherhood services are delivered to low-income, non-custodial parents by making services more accessible and easier to navigate. The project will be launched in Bennettsville County, and the cities of Greenville, Conway/Georgetown and North Charleston.
The SC Center for Fathers and Families and CSE have partnered on a number of projects over the years, including a planning grant that led to this grant, a project to help increase paternity establishment at the time a child is born, and to improve the pro se process for the modification of child support, including a new on-line interactive software and training video that is under development to help individuals navigate this process. Most notable has been the successful collaboration between CSE, the center and the family court to implement Jobs Not Jail, an alternative to incarceration for non-payment of child support.
Jobs Not Jail has resulted in significant collection of child support that otherwise would not have been collected if non-custodial parents had been incarcerated. Equally as important, Jobs Not Jail has helped thousands of non-custodial parents find jobs, become responsible fathers and be involved in their children's lives. This new project will build upon this model that has been in place for more than a decade.
The South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families is a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System.

The Columbia Regional Business Report honored Dawn Pender, nurse practitioner for the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families, with its Health Care Hero award for Nurses at an October 3 ceremony in Columbia, South Carolina. Dawn was one of 20 finalists recognized at the 2012 Heath Care Heroes awards in front of a crowd of more than 200 people. The awards recognize people in the Midlands health care industry who are making a difference and have a passion for helping others.
Finalists were recognized in seven categories: community outreach, first responders, health care professional, health care researcher, nurse, physician and volunteer. The winner in each category received the most points from the judges, which Dawn did in the nurse category.
Dawn provides health care services to fathers in three of the Center for Fathers and Families’ programs. She teaches fathers about men's health, substance abuse and many other health issues. She also performs health screenings and connects fathers in need with healthcare providers as part of the center’s access to healthcare component.
The South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families is a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System.

Football season is in full swing and the cries of "Go Gamecocks" resonate at Williams-Brice Stadium on the campus of the University of South Carolina. When the Gamecocks score, so does the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families. TD Bank, in partnership with the Center for Fathers and Families, is making a donation to the center each time the Gamecocks score a touchdown.
In addition to the touchdown donations, TD Bank has provided two tickets to every home game to a lucky fatherhood participant and his child. For a recent game against the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Lionel Williams (middle) and his son Jered Williams (right) received the two tickets. Jawaan Etheridge (left), a close friend of Jered's was also able to accompany the two.
Lionel, a student at the University of South Carolina from 1982-1986, has attended several games over his lifetime, but this game in particular was extra special. "My son is a senior in high school and very busy. So those moments when we have some quality time together are few and far between," Lionel said. "For TD Bank to allow me to have that moment where we could just hang out together was just unbelievable."
Lionel has been a participant of the Midlands Fatherhood Coalition for nearly a year now. The Midlands Fatherhood Coalition is one of six fatherhood programs throughout the state supported by the Center. The programs help fathers reconnect with their children and help meet the material, emotional and spiritual needs of their children.
"Plain and simple, I would just like to say thank you to TD Bank for the tickets and the opportunity to enjoy a game with my son and his friend. I don't think they (TD Bank) understand how much this opportunity means for fathers like me, who are just trying to do the right thing, by being able to spend time and take care of my son," Lionel said. "I don't know if Jered realized the magnitude of the situation, but for me it was a very, very special night.”
The South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families is a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System.

Building Healthy Communities and St. Vincent Charity Medical Center are hosting the seventh annual Celebration of Wellness interactive family health day Wednesday, October 10 at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center from noon to 5 p.m.
The Celebration of Wellness event is free and open to residents of Cleveland’s Central Neighborhood. It is designed to help support healthier lifestyles in Central Neighborhood, which has been home to the medical center since 1865.
The event features a number of activities that promote health and wellness, including:
A noon walk/run around the hospital’s campus, after which participants receive free t-shirts
Health screenings with medical professionals, including podiatry exams
Information regarding diabetes, stroke, sickle cell anemia, breast health and more
A limited supply of free flu shots
Workshops presented by Garden Boyz (BHC’s youth urban farmers) and volunteers about how to freeze fresh vegetables, how to make a fall container garden, how to use fresh herbs in cooking and how to make healthy after-school snacks
After-school activities for children, including pumpkin decorating, jump rope competitions, football throwing contests and more
What: Celebration of Wellness interactive family health dayWhen: Wednesday, October 10; noon to 5 p.m. (walk/run begins at noon)Where: St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, 2351 East 22nd Street (Meet at the School of Nursing Boler Family Memorial Garden facing Central Avenue on the northeast corner of the hospital’s campus.)
The Celebration of Wellness event is sponsored by St. Vincent Charity Medical Center and the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland.
For more information, call 216.571.1266 to speak with Sharon Glaspie, director of Building Healthy Communities, which is a grassroots neighborhood program that helps people in the Central Neighborhood of downtown Cleveland improve their health.
Building Healthy Communities, St. Vincent Charity Medical Center and the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland are ministries of the Sisters of Charity Health System.

MidlandsBiz recently sat down with two Healthy Learners board members, Tina Emerson and Matthew Roberts, to talk about the tournament and the expansion of the Healthy Learners program beyond the Midlands into different regions of the state: Allendale, Dillon, Greenwood and Georgetown. [More]

The South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families has had a busy summer. Read the latest news about how the center is scoring for fatherhood at University of South Carolina Gamecocks football games, providing suits to unemployed men transitioning to the workforce and more. [More]

The State newspaper published an editorial by Associate Editor Warren Bolton on August 2, the same day as the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families’ Decade of Dads celebration at The Zone at Williams Brice Stadium at the University of South Carolina in downtown Columbia, SC. [More]

This July, the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families is partnering with Men’s Wearhouse for the fifth annual National Suit Drive, the nation’s largest collection of gently used business attire for men. [More]

The State newspaper recently published the a letter to the editor from Matt Shaffer, who is the board chair of Healthy Learners and senior vice president of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina. [More]

About Us

From its Cleveland headquarters, the Sisters of Charity Health System provides oversight, leadership and strategic direction to more than 20 organizations responding to community needs in Canton and Cleveland, Ohio, and South Carolina.